Game Recap: Avalanche 3, Wild 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Valeri Nichushkin extended his goal streak to six games, and the Colorado Avalanche handed the Minnesota Wild their sixth straight loss, 3-2 at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.

Nichushkin has 10 points (seven goals and three assists) over his past six games.

Kurtis MacDermid scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and Ross Colton scored for the Avalanche (13-6-0) who have won two in a row and five of their past six. Alexandar Georgiev made 19 saves.

“I thought we handled the push well, especially coming into the third, continuing to play our game and get a huge goal by MacDermid,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “The guy’s been working extremely hard. To see him come out and do the right thing, fourth line gets a goal again, power play gets a goal again, I thought all around being able to come in on the road and sort of have that effort with some guys out of the lineup, it was good to see.”

Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist, and Joel Eriksson Ek scored for the Wild (5-9-4) who have gone 0-4-2 during their skid. Filip Gustavsson made 22 saves.

“I feel that we played better tonight, but we just want two points,” Kaprizov said. “The last couple of games we’ve lost by one goal. I feel, too, we’ve played better -- especially tonight. We had a lot of chances. We play like that, wins will come.”

Colton gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 17:43 of the first period off the rush, scoring from the left circle on an assist from Bowen Byram.

Nichuskin made it 2-0 at 8:39 of the second period on the power play after tipping in a Nathan MacKinnon wrist shot from atop the left circle.

Kaprizov cut it to 2-1, scoring 34 seconds later at 9:13 when he deflected in a loose puck in the crease.

Eriksson Ek tied it 2-2 at 14:21 from the slot after redirecting a pass from Mats Zuccarello on the power play.

“Did we play well enough to win tonight? Yes,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “But when things aren’t going good, you need to do something extra. Something needs to be done extra. We need all of it.”

MacDermid put Colorado back ahead 3-2 at 4:56 of the third period with his first goal of the season, scoring off an assist from Andrew Cogliano after cutting through the slot.

“It’s not necessarily part of my job, but it’s always nice to be able to help my team offensively,” MacDermid said. “It’s a big two points for us. Grind it out at the end and that’s what you want to do on the road.”

NOTES: Colorado forward Tomas Tatar did not play, but Bednar said he “will be available” when the Avalanche host the Calgary Flames on Saturday. … Kaprizov extended his goal streak against Colorado to six games dating to Jan. 17, 2022, equaling Brian Rolston (six games against the Los Angeles Kings) and Marian Gaborik (six games against the Arizona Coyotes) for the longest against one opponent in franchise history. His previous longest against one franchise was a five-game run against the Vegas Golden Knights from March 10 - May 5, 2021.